Iowa Nursing Home Administrator Faces Sanctions in Sexual Abuse Case

The Iowa Board of Nursing Home Administrators alleges that Susan Juilfs, who was the administrator of the Pomeroy Care Center from September 1983 to October 2011, is guilty of professional incompetence, according to the Des Moines Register. The board says that Juilfs should have known resident William Cubbage, 84, posed a threat to other residents of the home and that she failed to protect those residents. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 24. Juilfs, who is now the administrator at Lakeside Lutheran Home in Emmetsburg, Iowa declined to comment on the board’s allegations.

State inspection reports reveal that several employees of the Pomeroy Care Center told investigators Juilfs warned them, under threat of being fired, not to tell anyone sex offenders were living in the home. According to the Des Moines Register, Cubbage lived in the Iowa Civil Commitment Unit for Sex Offenders from 2002 to November 2010, because of four convictions in cases alleging lascivious acts with a child, indecent contact with a child, and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse.

The Register reports that on Aug. 21, 2011, an 8-year-old girl visiting the Pomeroy home reported seeing Cubbage fondling an elderly disabled woman in her bed, though the woman was allegedly calling out, “No, no, no!”

The woman’s family is now suing the nursing home for admitting Cubbage and for failing to protect her and other residents. The family also alleges that the Iowa Department of Human Services did not have an appropriate plan in place to ensure that Cubbage would not reoffend and that the department failed to see that he was properly supervised at the Pomeroy home.

Court records indicate that although Cubbage confessed to assaulting the woman, state and county prosecutors have not pursued criminal charges. Instead, they are seeking to have Cubbage recommitted to the sex-offender unit where he is now housed, the Des Moines Register reports.